Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts: Book 1) by Vic James

Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts Book 1) by [James, Vic]

Title: Gilded Cage

Author: Vic James

Publisher: Random House Publishing – Ballantine

Date of publication: February 14th, 2017

Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy

POV: Alternate 3rd person

Number of pages: 368

Series: Dark Gifts

Gilded Cage – Book 1

Tarnished City – Book 2 (publication date not stated on Goodreads)

Bright Ruin – Book 3 (publication date not stated on Goodreads)

Standalone: Yes

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Not all are free. Not all are equal. Not all will be saved.

Our world belongs to the Equals — aristocrats with magical gifts — and all commoners must serve them for ten years. But behind the gates of England’s grandest estate lies a power that could break the world.

A girl thirsts for love and knowledge.

Abi is a servant to England’s most powerful family, but her spirit is free. So when she falls for one of the noble-born sons, Abi faces a terrible choice. Uncovering the family’s secrets might win her liberty, but will her heart pay the price?

A boy dreams of revolution.

Abi’s brother, Luke, is enslaved in a brutal factory town. Far from his family and cruelly oppressed, he makes friends whose ideals could cost him everything. Now Luke has discovered there may be a power even greater than magic: revolution.

And an aristocrat will remake the world with his dark gifts.

He is a shadow in the glittering world of the Equals, with mysterious powers no one else understands. But will he liberate—or destroy?

My review:

Gilded Cage starts off with a young woman, Leah, running for her life across the ground of the estate she was a slave too…Kyneston. She is hoping to make it to the wall before Gavar and Jenner do. She has her baby, Liberty (aka Libby) with her and she is hoping that Libby would be able to open the gate so they could escape. It doesn’t happen. Libby doesn’t have the Skill to open the gate. Or as Silyen, the youngest and the most Skilled of the 3 brothers said, maybe she doesn’t want to leave her family.  It doesn’t really matter anyway because before Leah could do anything else, Gavar shoots Leah. Miraculously, Libby isn’t hurt and Gavar takes her back to the house….leaving Jenner to mourn over Leah. Jenner does try to get Silyen to heal her but he won’t…saying that even he can’t bring back the dead. As they are talking, Leah dies.

A few months later, we are introduced to Abi, Luke, Daisy, and their mother and father.  Luke is the equivalent of a junior in high school and Abi, a senior. Their little sister, Daisy, is 10 years old. Luke is studying for his final exams when he notices a strange man looking at his father’s restored Austin-Healey. The man unnerves Luke, for some reason, and is quickly on his way after seeing that Daisy is celebrating her 10th birthday.

Later that night, Luke overhears something horrific. His mother and father have decided to enact their slave days. See, in this dystopian society, all commoners are supposed to serve the Equals, those who have the Skill and rule over the country, for 10 years. What is Skill….well consider it magic of a sort. The Equals can do anything with it…including healing, mind reading and building houses or maintaining a gate that only opens for the Equals. They are sent to a slave town (called Millmoor) to serve out their 10 years. After the 10 years are over, the commoners can hold certain jobs (never went into in the book), own a house and travel abroad.

So it is understandable that Luke is upset. He is losing 10 years of his life and Daisy, who is 10, will not be able to receive any education during the 10 years. Luke would be missing out on college, girls and the start of his life. I would be upset too.

But Abi had come up with a solution. She applied, for the family, at a department within the Labor Allocation Bureau called Estate Services. That is where the Equals go for their house slaves. Her application got accepted and they are being sent to serve the Jardine family on the estate of Kyneston. Seeing that Luke is under the age of 18, he goes with his family. It is the perfect solution to something that is dreaded in the lives of the common people.

Except it didn’t go that way. The day that they are being picked up by the LAB person to be driven to Kyneston, things change. The driver only has 4 names written: Mum, Dad, Daisy, and Abi. Luke, unfortunately, gets sent to Millmoor. Which is unheard of because he is a minor. The officer, who was an idiot and I didn’t like him at all, and Luke’s Dad gets into a scuffle. Dad gets a beat down and the officer, Kessler, explains that they are all nonpeople and have no rights. They all separate and then the story goes into Luke at Millmoor, Gavar at Kyneston and various areas, Silyen at Kyneston and Abi at Kyneston.

I couldn’t put my finger on how I felt about Silyen. He had an agenda and he wasn’t afraid to use people to get desired results. But I also saw glimpses of a kind person and of someone who could be more than what he was raised to be. If that makes sense.

Gavar did redeem himself in the book. I did feel bad for him because his father had an ironclad grip on him. It came out that he was in love with Leah but his father made him shoot her. Which is awful. But his father’s control over him was slipping. Gavar reminded me of an abused dog who is just waiting for its master to not be paying attention before tearing his throat out. I also feel that his fiancé will be caught up in that once Gavar snaps. But he does have a soft side. He loves his daughter and he is very taken with Daisy, who is Libby’s nurse and I believe that he would move heaven and earth to protect both of them. It is going to be very interesting to see how Silyen and Gavar’s storylines end up in the other books.

Jenner was actually my favorite brother. He is Skillless but he is an asset to the estate and runs it. He is close to Silyen (well as close as Silyen lets him be) and he is getting very close to Abi. So close that Jenner’s mother, Lady Thalia, reminds him that he is an Equal (even if he doesn’t have powers) and that she is a slave and warns him off her.

Daisy had to have been my favorite person in the book. She was so upbeat and always saw the bright side of everything. She even liked Gavar, which kinda blew my mind. To be caring for a baby at her age was amazing (now granted Gavar did most of the caring for Libby when he was home and Daisy was just there as a babysitter) but still. She matured over the course of the book and I can’t wait to see where the author takes her character in book 2

I honestly didn’t know what to think of Abi. At times I liked her, at times I wanted to tell her to shut up and at other times I was in awe over her braveness. I am very interested to see what happens to her in book 2.

I felt awful for Luke. Being ripped from his family, put into an awful slave town and being worked to the bone, no wonder he became radicalized. His friendship with Renie, a girl his sister’s age, was very cute but at the same time dangerous. The events after was reunited with his family were beyond his control. I am very interested in what happens to him. Very interested.

Lord Whittman Jaradine, Gavar, Jenner and Silyen’s father, is a bad, bad, bad man. I literally got the chills when I was reading his scenes because his evilness just came off the pages. Again, a storyline that I would be very interested in seeing where it goes. I am also interested in seeing what happens between him and Gavar.

The end of the book ends as a cliffhanger, which made me want to yell. If you have read my reviews for any length of time, then you all know how I feel about cliffhangers. But, it did get me interested in book 2 (which I didn’t know there was going to be one until I pulled Gilded Cage up on Goodreads).

How many stars will I give Gilded Cage: 4

Why: A great dystopian book. This was a quick read with complex characters. I can’t wait to read book 2!!

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age Range: Teen

Why: No sex, no language. But there is violence…including a graphic scene of a head being blown off. Also, there is a disturbing side story about a man forced to live like a dog.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Always by Sarah Jio

Always: A Novel by [Jio, Sarah]

Title: Always

Author: Sarah Jio

Publisher: Random House Publishing – Ballantine

Date of publication: February 7th, 2017

Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Chick Lit

POV: 1st person

Number of pages: 289

Series: No

Where this book can be found: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

From the New York Times, bestselling author of Blackberry Winter and The Violets of March comes a gripping, poignant novel about the kind of love that never let’s go, and the heart’s capacity to remember.

While enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with her fiancé, Ryan, at one of Seattle’s chicest restaurants, Kailey Crane can’t believe her good fortune: She has a great job as a writer for the Herald and is now engaged to a guy who is perfect in nearly every way. As they leave the restaurant, Kailey spies a thin, bearded homeless man on the sidewalk. She approaches him to offer up her bag of leftovers and is stunned when their eyes meet, then stricken to her very core: The man is the love of her life, Cade McAllister.

When Kailey met Cade ten years ago, their attraction was immediate and intense everything connected and felt “right.” But it all ended suddenly, leaving Kailey devastated. Now the poor soul on the street is a faded version of her former beloved: His weathered and weary face is as handsome as Kailey remembers, but his mind has suffered in the intervening years. Over the next few weeks, Kailey helps Cade begin to piece his life together, something she initially keeps from Ryan. As she revisits her long-ago relationship, Kailey realizes that she must decide exactly what and whom she wants.

Alternating between the past and the present, Always is a beautifully unfolding exploration of a woman faced with an impossible choice, a woman who discovers what she’s willing to save and what she will sacrifice for true love.

My review:

A bit of a warning, this book is a tear-jerker from the beginning. I was a bit surprised at how early the tears started in the book for me. I went into reading Always knowing that it was chick lit and chick lit always turns me into a mushy mess. I just wasn’t expecting it by Chapter 2.

While I sympathized with Kailey, I was kinda annoyed with her. She should have told Ryan what was going on with Cade from the beginning, instead of keeping secrets. I mean, her boss (who was super supportive and unlike any boss I have known) and her best friend were voices of reason. “Tell Ryan. He’ll understand.” She doesn’t and then gets upset when Ryan finds out and he gets upset. What was he supposed to be? Happy that she is devoting all her time to helping the one man who disappeared on her 8 years earlier. The fact that he was at least understanding showed what a great guy he was.

Even before she realized it, I could tell that Kailey was still in love with Cade. I mean, she went and hunted him down after she saw him outside the restaurant. She became his advocate when the hospital decided that people who had insurance and were rich had more priority over those who were poor and didn’t have insurance (which is an unfortunate reality for most people these days).

Speaking of that, the love story between Cade and Kailey took my breath away. They loved each other so much and it just came off the pages. Like any couple, they had their problems. So when he disappeared, I could see why Kailey was devastated.

But what sold me on the book was the realistic insight to homelessness. People who are homeless are treated like they are below other people. All because they don’t have the money or a place to live. People are under the incorrect assumption that most homeless people are drug addicts. Not true. A huge majority of people homeless are people who used to have a house and a job and through unfortunate events are living on the street. There are not enough shelters to keep up with a growing homeless population….which was correctly portrayed in the book also. As was people’s views of them. A little compassion can go a long way because you never know, you could be that person on the street. At the end of this review will be a link to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Click on it to learn more about how to help shelters in your community.

I did like the ending of the book and felt that the story had come full circle.

How many stars will I give Always: 5

Why: This was a genuine tear-jerker of a book. Like I said above, I started crying about the 2nd chapter and didn’t stop. The love between Cade and Kailey was so real, so raw that it came off the page.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and language

National Coalition for the Homeless

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Mage of Legend (Dragon Highlands: Book 1): A Kal’brath Novel by Jennifer Amriss

Mage of Legend (An M/M Gay Fantasy Romance): A Kal'brath Novel

Title: Mage of Legend

Author: Jennifer Amriss

Publisher: Magelight Press

Date of publication: February 3rd, 2017

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, LBGTQIA

POV: 3rd person

Number of pages: 352

Series: Dragon Highlands

Mage of Legend – Book 1

Kal’brath Novels

Race Against the Dark – Book 1 (review here)

Healing Wounds – Book 2 (review here)

Twilight’s Children – Book 3 (review here)

Can be read out-of-order from series: Yes, the first book in the Dragon Highlands series

Where this book can be found: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Dimensional Rifters Were Nothing But Legends.
Until now…

Ages ago, one of the old gods threw Minuvel, the last Ivari, into a dimensional prison. She was too powerful to kill and too dangerous to let roam free. But her vault was lost.

A Spoiled King and A Skilled Hunter.

After a beautiful stranger saves his life, Xastrian, the new Dragon King, owes Velithor a life-debt. But as the two join forces to battle the crazed Ivari who shares their prison, he discovers he wants so much more. Soul-bonding with the shy, resourceful hunter would be worth anything. Even facing death a second time.

Trapped and Hunted.

Xastrian must rely on Velithor’s knowledge of the forest. Velithor must help Xastrian regain his power. And one of them must tap into the magic of legend to become a dimensional rifter before the Ivari drives Xastrian mad and ruins their chances of ever finding their way home.
Reading Order

Mage of Legend
Lurir: Going Home (Short Story)- COMING SOON!
*Dragon Court- COMING SOON!

Dragon Highlands Book 1.

This side duology to the Kings of Kal’brath series is set in the same universe where Mother, the sentient planet, cradles the races of three parallel worlds: Adradis of the elves and other magical races where the continent of Kal’brath resides, Earth of the magicless humans, and Morka of the magic-negating bashkai. If you loved the Kal’brath books, this duology brings back Velithor for more fun, romance, and gripping adventure.

These light fantasy romps are sure to be favorites you will want to read again and again.

Please note that this is book contains an M/M (Gay) Fantasy Romance subplot.

Want to know the reading order for the entire universe? Here you go!

1. Race Against the Dark (Kings of Kal’brath Pilot) [Het]
2. Healing Wounds: Mother Book One (Kings of Kal’brath 2) [Het]
3. Twilight’s Children: Mother Book Two (Kings of Kal’brath 3) [Het]
4. Mage of Legend (Dragon Highlands 1) [Gay]
5. Lurir: Going Home (Dragon Highlands Short) [Clean]
6. Dragon Court (Dragon Highlands 2) [Gay]

My review:

I was so excited when Jennifer contacted me to let me know that not only did she have another Kal’brath novel coming out and it was going to have Velithor in it, I was super excited. I didn’t come out and squeal like a teenager at a boy band concert but it was pretty close.

I am going to admit, I wasn’t a fan of Xastrian at first. He takes off after an assassination attempt (hello, an unknown person wanting to kill you!!) to practice his magic, which he isn’t very good at and not only did he end up blasting the area he was in (with everything in it) in between dimensions but he also almost died. After Velithor saves him, he acts like a spoiled brat. There were times I wanted to smack him. But he did start to grow on me. Slowly but he grew on me. By the end of the book, I really liked him.

Velithor, oh Velithor. I was so happy to see that he had a love interest that worshipped him. I actually cried a few times in the book. Once when Niral died saving him from the harpies (which, btw were not what I thought they would look like. WoW totally ruined that for me…..lol). Once when the mama grizzly died, leaving the cubs orphans and once when Velithor explained why he has white hair and Xastrian told him that he should feel cherished. Ahhhh…waterworks.

The sex scenes between Velithor and Xastrian were beyond hot and so sweet. The feelings between both of them just came off the pages and to be honest, it made the sex even sweeter to read. What I really liked, though, was that they had sex twice. The rest of the time, it was them making out and letting their feelings grow between each other.

The storyline involving Minuvel was awesome. She was a witch with a capital B and didn’t fail to pull out all the stops when he flat-out told her no. I was neutral about her at first (I mean, I would be little witchy if locked in a prison for as long as she was) but when she tortured Xastrian in the tunnels, I hated her. But she did get what was coming to her so I felt vindicated.

The storyline with the sithak was interesting. Mainly because how he was connected to both Velithor and Xastrian. I wasn’t expecting to like him that much or for him to actually care about them both. From the last book, I thought that he was a monster and I am glad that my image of the sithak was changed. I hope that he makes appearances in other books!!

The end of the book was pretty open-ended. I do have some questions that I hope will be answered in the next book. Like how will a certain engagement end up? And who is the assassin? Will the cubs stay with Velithor and Xastrian?

How many stars will I give Mage of Legend? 4

Why: I really liked this book. I couldn’t put this book down. I had to find out if Xastrian and Velithor defeat Minuvel and escape the prison. I couldn’t put the book down and finished it within a day and a half. It was that good.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and violence

I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

The Devil’s Library: The Windhaven Chronicles by Waston Davis

The Devil's Library (The Windhaven Chronicles) by [Davis, Watson]

Title: The Devil’s Library

Author: Watson Davis

Publisher: Unknown

Date of publication: February 8th, 2017

Genre: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy

POV: 3rd person

Number of pages: 283

Series: The Windhaven Chronicles

The Devil’s Library – Book 1

Can be read out-of-order from series: Yes, the first book in series

Where you can find this book: Amazon | Goodreads

Amazon synopsis:

A Rogue, A Renegade, and a Treasure Beyond Belief

Gartan finds a map to a treasure across the sea, and he decides he must have it. He plots and plans and refuses to be denied the greatest raid in history, even if he has to face down two of the greatest empires in the world.

And then the dragon arrives.

In this action-packed sword and sorcery novel of The Windhaven Chronicles, Watson Davis tells a tale of pride and greed, of magic beyond comprehension, and creatures beyond belief.

Buy it today.

My review:

As most of you know by now, if you have followed my reviews on Amazon or reading my blog long enough, I am a huge fan of anything in the dark fantasy genre. So when I was approached by Watson Davis to review this ARC, I jumped at the chance and I wasn’t disappointed.

Gartan, the Onei leader, reminded me of a 3-year-old. Very impulsive, selfish and prone to just doing what he wanted without thinking of the consequences. He drove me nuts for about half the book and I seriously wanted to smack him at times. Around the middle of the book, after the battle with the kraken, he started turning around for me. I believe it was when he kept Dyuh Mon from drowning after the kraken destroyed the boat he was on.

On the other hand, Tethan, Gartan’s son, the exact opposite of him. He spoke Shiran, so was able to communicate with about almost everyone that they came into contact with….not that it did any good with Gartan just killing them. He was against Gartan’s quest (following a map on human skin to a great prize….sounds like a good time (sarcasm here). But like a good son, he followed his father into battle. Hell, he even killed a dragon, earning the respect of the clans and his father.

I didn’t trust Dyuh Mon when he first appeared in the book. I don’t know if it was because you could tell that he was lying or his pointy teeth or what but he rubbed me the wrong way. For someone who used to be the Librarian for the Eternal Council, he was a weak little thing and he was more than happy to let Gartan do his dirty work for him. I did feel vindicated at the end of the book about my feelings for him (want to know what, read the book).

There are so many secondary characters that this post would be taken over. When I say I got very upset when some of these characters died (like Nohel), I am not lying. Normally, the secondary characters are flat and two-dimensional. These are not and they add so much to the story.

I will say that I liked the take on the magic users in this book. They were not all good, they used their magic in battle and they killed people with it. Which was utterly refreshing to read. Listen, I am all for magic being used for good with hearts and sparkles everywhere. But sometimes, you need to have magic that can blow a head off or explode a person.

I did get a laugh out of the book. Sorry, but I was gigglesnort laughing at the description of a honking kraken. For some reason, I had the image of a very angry goose…..lol.

I will also warn everyone, there is a lot of violence in this book. The Onei are barbarians and they definitely act like it. Between people getting blasted by magic, attacked by a mind-controlled dragon and getting killed in raids or by ships being attacked, the violence was through the roof and it was bloody. Now, it didn’t bother me any but it might bother someone who hates any type of violence.

I will say that the Gartan/Dyuh Mon storyline, once it merged, did surprise me at the end. I was not expecting what happened to happen. I don’t want to give too much of that away but the chick that was freed…….she was creepy.

The end of the book was pretty open and I really wasn’t surprised at by what I read. The way the book was set up at the end, though, would make a great intro to book 2.

How many stars will I give The Devil’s Library: 4

Why: I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were well written and very 3 dimensional. I also liked the fact that magic wasn’t fluffy and cute in this book. It was used for good and bad. While the violence portrayed in the book didn’t bother me, it might bother other people who are sensitive to it.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes but with a warning about the violence

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

From London with Love (Rebellious Brides: Book 2) by Diana Quincy

From London with Love: Rebellious Brides

Title: From London with Love

Author: Diana Quincy

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept

Date of publication: February 7th, 2017

Genre: Historical romance

POV: 3rd person

Number of pages: Unknown

Series:

A License to Wed – Book 1 (Review here)

From London with Love – Book 2

Standalone – Yes

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Emilia St. George is moments away from marrying the admired grandson of a duke when the man who once jilted her decides to kidnap her at the altar. It’s the second time in five years Hamilton Sparrow has ruined her wedding day, and Emilia isn’t about to forgive him. The mere sight of her ex-fiancé revives painful memories—and, most regrettably, aching desires that refuse to be ignored.

Scanning the guests at Emilia’s wedding, Sparrow spots a familiar face: an assassin he recognizes from his days as a spy in France. Whisking Emilia away, he’s pleasantly surprised by her newly formed curves. Could this be the same flame-haired slip of a girl once promised to Sparrow? And does the fop she still insists on marrying realize what a prize she is? True, Sparrow left Emilia at the altar. But he’s afraid that the only way to right that particular wrong is to risk the one thing he’s always guarded: his heart.

My review:

Emilia is about to have the wedding that was denied to her 5 years earlier when her fiance, Hamilton Sparrow, left her at the altar. She was just minutes away from walking down the aisle when she was kidnapped by none other than…..Hamilton Sparrow. His reason for kidnapping her….there was an assassin in the audience and that assassin was there to kill her.

He brings Emilia to his manor, where she notices that his housekeeper is overly friendly with him. Put it this way, she was shoving her boobs in his face, giving Emilia (who she referred to as “the ginger”) dirty looks and the kicker, she tried to give Hamilton a blow job while he was sitting at his desk, which he quickly deterred but not before Emilia sees.

The assassin catches up with Sparrow and Emilia at Sparrow’s estate….where Emilia brains him with a rock while Sparrow fights him. The injury to his head, causes the assassin to go into a coma. Which is bad in a way because he can’t tell Sparrow who hired him.

So begins the mystery of who wants to kill Emilia and why.

Come to find out that there are a couple of people who want to kill her and they all have motives. Her cousin, a recluse, whose parents were murdered in their beds years ago and who people suspected of killing them. A shady art dealer who Emilia caught swindling people and got him fired from his job. Her current fiance who, come to find out, is a spendthrift and really isn’t nice to Emilia.

All the while, Sparrow is fighting a growing attraction to Emilia and he is trying to figure out how to get out from under a mountain of debt that the previous holder of his title left him when he died.

I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely something that I needed to read after the last few books I have read. The humor in the book was great.

I really liked Emilia. She knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. Which was pretty funny in some scenes (like when she wanted to paint Sparrow naked…she was tenacious….lol).

Sparrow wasn’t the perfect hero either. He was hurt, badly, in the past by a former lover and he couldn’t move past that. So, what does he do? He forms attachments that won’t require him to get emotionally involved with the women. If that starts to happen, he ends the relationship. The gradual change in him took place from the minute he kidnaps Emilia. He turned down sex (from his housekeeper) because Emilia was there.

The sex scenes between Sparrow and Emilia were very hot and I loved how she propositioned him….lol.

I was surprised at who the person was who wanted Emilia dead and the reasons why. Well, I take that back. I wasn’t surprised at that because it made perfect sense. The end of the book was perfect. I do wish that there was an epilogue to show how Sparrow and Emilia were doing. I am sure, though, that they will make an appearance in the next book!!

How many stars will I give From London with Love? 4

Why: This was a funny, sexy, mystery/romance that keeps the pages turning.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and violence

I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Take Me Harder (Texas Bounty: Book 3) by Jackie Ashenden

Take Me Harder (Texas Bounty, #3)

Title: Take Me Harder

Author: Jackie Ashenden

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept

Date of publication: February 7th, 2017

Genre: Romance

Number of pages: Unknown

POV: 3rd person

Series: Texas Bounty

Take Me Deeper – Book 1 (review here)

Make It Hurt – Book 2

Take Me Harder – Book 3

Make It Good – Book 4 (Expected publication date: March 6th, 2018)

Make It Last – Book 5 (Expected publication date: May 1st, 2018)

Take Me Longer – Book 6 (Expected publication date: July 3rd, 2018)

Standalone – No

Where to find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Rush Redmond never expected freedom to taste so bittersweet. He spent eight years in jail doing someone else’s time, and for what? As an ex-con, Rush can’t work as a bounty hunter like his brothers—not in Texas. Better to drown his sorrows with a stiff drink and soft curves. Too bad the temptation he craves is a redhead with a badge: Ava St. George. Once upon a time, Rush would’ve done anything for the sheriff’s innocent daughter. Now he’s fighting the urge to let her sweet-talk him into some trouble he can’t afford.
 
Even though she’s a cop, Ava knows that sometimes justice means pushing the boundaries of the law. To track down her mother’s killer, she turns to the man with the county’s criminal underworld in his little black book. The boy she knew is still drop-dead gorgeous, with panty-dropping charm as smooth as his smile. But his sculpted arms and the menacing gleam in his eyes scream “Don’t mess with me.” Yet Ava needs Rush more than ever—in more ways than one.

My review:

Rush Redmond spent 8 years in jail for a crime that he did not commit….to protect his older brother, Quinn, and his alcoholic father. He has changed in those 8 years and not for the better. He came out of jail bitter. Bitter towards his brothers, who didn’t visit him. Bitter towards his father, who promised he would do everything to get him out and instead left him to rot in jail for 8 years. Bitter that his mother had told him that he wasn’t his father’s son while she was dying (even though it explained a lot).

Ava St. George is the sheriff’s daughter and is a cop herself. Her mother was murdered when she was 7 years old and her father withdrew, emotionally, from her. Stricken with grief, she forms a friendship with Rush…who is 10 years older. He is the one who helps her get over her grief, who supports her dream to be a cop like her mother and father, who teaches her how to shot a gun and who was her first crush. She was 14 when he went to jail and she never forgot him.

I felt really bad for Rush but to be honest, he did come off as a jerk. A huge jerk who kinda bullied Ava (but hated doing it if that made sense). I understand that he was lashing out because of everything that happened to him but still. I wanted to smack him for some of the things he said to her. And Quinn was definitely in the right for not wanting him around Ava, at all.

I loved Ava. I really did but she let Rush walk all over her for a little while. I don’t know if it was because she felt guilty that she never visited him in prison (hello, she was 14 and he was 24….no way her dad would have let her do that) or because she needed his contacts but she should have never let him do it for as long as he did.

I wouldn’t call what was between Ava and Rush a romance at first. It was more of lust. Where Rush wanted Ava and she wanted him just as badly. It evolved into love when she asked to be his girlfriend when he went to the arms dealer’s party to get information for Ava and to see if the arms dealer was his father (his mother had an affair with him right around the time Rush was conceived).

The sex scenes were very hot. The only thing that I didn’t like was Ava losing her virginity in the front seat of Rush’s truck. I was kinda hoping that it would happen in a bed but oh well. The rest of the sex scenes were great and….drum roll please, they used safe sex. Double fist pump yes…..lol.

The storylines, except for who fathered Rush, were all resolved in a good way. I do like that Zane was featured a couple of time and that Iris was only mentioned once. Which made me happy because I couldn’t stand her.

The end was typical of a romance, with a HEA. But, in this book, I felt that the HEA was deserved.

How many stars will I give Take Me Harder: 4

Why: For some reason, this book got to me. I don’t know if it was Rush’s pain over everything that has happened to him from the age of 17 on or if it was the great message interwoven in the book (forgiveness if good) but it got to me. It also helped that Ava was such a great balm for Rush while he worked through everything and that their sex was great.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age Range: Adult

Why: Sex, language, and violence.

I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

A Cunning Plan (Sloane Harper: Book 1) by Astrid Arditi

A Cunning Plan (Sloane Harper Book 1)

Title: A Cunning Plan

Author: Astrid Arditi

Publisher: Self Published

Date of publication: November 11th, 2016

Genre: Romance, Mystery, Thriller

Number of pages: 378

POV: 1st person

Series: Sloane Harper

A Cunning Plan – Book 1

Can be read out-of-order from series: Yes, 1st book

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

The First Sloane Harper Novel
Determined to put her family back together, Sloane Harper stalks her ex-husband and his annoyingly stunning mistress, Kate Stappleton. But she’s not the only one. Handsome IRS agent Ethan Cunning is surveying Kate too, but for entirely different reasons. He is attempting to nail Kate’s playboy boss. Ethan and Sloane decide to help each other, which sends Sloane’s wobbly life spinning out of control. She’ll have to face danger, humiliation, and – scariest of all – the dating scene, to lure her daughters’ father home. Losing control was the best thing to happen to Sloane…until it turned lethal.

My review:

I am going to come straight out and admit this, I didn’t think I would like A Cunning Plan by what I read in the synopsis <hangs head>. What I didn’t expect was the humor that was in the book. I wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did.

I actually felt very bad for Sloane in the first few chapters of the book. She was blindsided by her divorce and refused to accept it. She had the mindset that her divorce was only temporary and that her husband will eventually come back and remarry her. I actually wanted to hug her during that part of the book. It was so sad to read. But, once Ethan began his campaign to get her to do his dirty work (get into for Gabriel Varela) for him, the book took off.

Tom, Sloane’s ex, was a huge jerk and I really wanted to punch him. He knew that Sloane wanted him back and he kept stringing her along. To be honest, I couldn’t stand how he treated her. Like she was beneath him. Always laughing at her when she would trip or make a mistake. When Sloane decided to start living her life instead of waiting for him, in other words…dating, he freaked out. Hardcore freaked out. I think I said out loud during that point of the book “Can’t have your cake and eat it to sweetpea”.

Ethan Cunning, oh where do I begin with him. I had a love/hate relationship with him, like Sloane. He kinda did creep me out with all the stalking he did. I mean, he showed up everywhere Sloane was and it was freaky. But, in a way, Sloane was getting hers for stalking Tom’s mistress/new girlfriend. I also didn’t like how he could change in a minute. When he called Sloane desperate (all because he was jealous of her dating Gabriel), I wanted to reach through the book and smack him. Hard.

I loved the friendship that Sloane had with Claudia. It was one of the most honest ones in the book and oh boy, did Claudia not hold back. She was brutally honest and did not hold back of her dislike for Tom (which made me love her even more). She truly had Sloane’s best interests at heart and she was truly a best friend to Sloane.

The relationship Sloane had with her mother, Bizzy, was very complicated. To be honest, I did think was very selfish in taking advantage of her mother for 6 months but then again, I didn’t think it was selfish. Bizzy was not a great mother….always putting Sloane down, buddying up to Tom and harping on Claudia. Plus, she was always drinking her “lemonade” and was always half lit. The whole day after a binge with Claudia was hilarious.

What I liked the most about this book was that Sloane cherished her children and Tom was a great father, even if he was a jerk in every other area of his life. They made a united front to co-parent as peacefully as possible for Rose and Poppy. I will say that the highlight of this book was the horse/whore conversation and its after-effects. I couldn’t breathe, I was laughing so hard.

The storylines of A Cunning Plan were great. I couldn’t decide if I was Team Ethan or Team Gabriel for most of the book but I can tell you that I was most definitely not Team Tom. I do like that Sloane’s super secret spy mission did get results, even if it did go a little haywire (well, a lot haywire). I do have some questions that needed to be answered (what about Alina and Sloane’s friendship? Will it survive what happened?) but I am sure that it will be answered in the next book.

How many stars will I give A Cunning Plan: 4

Why: A very fast paced mystery that kept you guessing. Also a great look into how a woman blindsided by her divorce got her life and self-worth back.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Language and violence

**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**

Bunyan’s Guide to the Great American Wildlife by Quentin Canterel’

Bunyan's Guide to the Great American Wildlife

Title: Bunyan’s Guide To The Great American Wildlife

Author: Quentin Canterel

Publisher: Acorn Independent Press

Date of Publication: October 11th, 2016

Genre: General Fiction

Number of pages: 262

POV: 3rd person, 1st person, and 2nd person

Series: No

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

What happens when the Manhattan zoo empties its cages?

John, part radicalized anarchist, part ticking time bomb, is haunted by a particular story, that of Willow, a 9-year old mute who flees to New York after her brutal rape. The only way his girlfriend, Felicity, can stop the clock counting down is by disentangling the riddle of their pasts before their entwined futures are blown to pieces.

Quentin Canterel’s second novel presents a collage of voices, dead and alive, in a unique and unnerving novel that experiments with form, structure, and language.

Truly a mystery shrouded in an enigma.

My review:

This was a very hard book to read. Not because of the subject (9-year-old mute girl gets gang-raped) but because of how it was written. Normally, I am pretty good with numerous POV’s in a book but this one, well it was all over the place. One chapter would be in 2nd person, then another in 1st person, then back to 2nd person and then to 3rd person. It was very confusing and I couldn’t keep track of who was “talking” half the time. Not something that really makes a great reading experience.

Another reason this was a very hard book to read was the wordage. I am not stupid, far from it, but I still had to use my Kindle’s dictionary to figure out what some of the words meant and when they weren’t available on that, I had to google the word. Yes, google it. That lowered the book’s esteem in my eyes.

This review is going to be very short because, honestly, I can’t say anything good about the book. The plotlines were awful, the characters came across as either immensely screwed up, immensely stuck up or both and I just couldn’t get past Felicity and John’s “romance”.

How many stars will I give Bunyan’s Guide to the Great American Wildlife: 1

Why: I didn’t like the book and found it very hard to read. The POV’s were changed lightning fast and without notification, the characters were not very relatable and the language they used was very pretentious. I did not enjoy reading this book at all…which is sad because books should be enjoyed.

Will I reread: No

Will I recommend to family and friends: No

Age range: Adult

Why: Violence and language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Her Alpha Dragon (Her Biker Dragon: Book 5) by A.J. Tipton

Her Alpha Dragon (Her Biker Dragon #5)

Title: Her Alpha Dragon

Author: A.J. Tipton

Publisher: Tipton Enterprises

Date of publication: April 17th, 2016

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Dragons

Number of pages: 94

POV: 3rd person

Series: Her Biker Dragon

Her Valiant Dragon – Book 1 (review here)

Her Delicious Dragon – Book 2 (review here)

Her Rock Star Dragon – Book 3 (review here)

Her Hacker Dragon – Book 4 (review here)

Her Alpha Dragon – Book 5

Can be read out-of-order from series: Yes but I would recommend reading them in order

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

The exciting conclusion of the Her Biker Dragon series!

The badass dragon shifters of the Iron Claws motorcycle club will risk everything for the people they love. Cast out from their dragon clans, they must use their cunning and strength to defy the laws of their people and stay one step ahead of those determined to keep life-saving cures out of the hands of humans.

Big Joe Silver is the Alpha of the Iron Claws and a man with a secret. When Joe’s past catches up with him, he is forced to face the decisions he thought he outran long ago. Joe would do anything to protect his family, the Iron Claws, from the Dragon High Council’s constant attacks, but their final strike may be too much for him to bear. Will the mistakes of his past drive him away from the Iron Claws and his forbidden love, Emma?

Emma Hernandez is the badass ex-military strategist of the Iron Claws who’s been in love with Joe since the day they met. She knows she can never be with him, but that doesn’t stop her from being by his side every step of the way. When Joe’s past roars back into their world, Emma finds herself pushed away from Joe and the Iron Claws. But everything may not be what it seems. Forced to put everything on the line, can Emma save her club and her man from the Council’s greatest threat?

The exciting conclusion in the Iron Claws series features cabin mischief, tempting dreams, and a love that will last until the end.

My review:

Big Joe was in love with Emma, his right-hand man, and best friend, and had been for years. But he refuses to act on it because he was already married. Granted, he hadn’t seen her in 5 years and that was only because she refused to go along with his Puff distribution plan. He refused to not honor his vows….no matter how Emma made him feel. So imagine his surprise when his wife, Rachel,  shows up after the Iron Claws were attacked at Caesar and Nina’s wedding.

Emma was a little skeptical when Rachel shows up. It was too convenient. See, Penelope had published a paper proving the medical benefits of Puff and the Dragon Council was considering making it legal. Emma seems to think that they are being set up for something, with Rachel as a pawn but has no choice but to follow Joe’s orders when he says he’s taking both of them to a cottage that is in the middle of nowhere.

I kinda wanted to smack Big Joe. He was so blind to Rachel. There was something off about her. Even I, a lowly reader, could see that. I guess he wanted her to be the same person that she was when they separated and all the BS she was pouring in his ear about wanting kids was just that. BS.

Emma was the one I felt for. She got screwed by Joe. I mean, she didn’t like Rachel but it doesn’t mean that she would beat her, which Rachel claimed she did. But Emma did have one up on her and it was a doozy.

Remember all those attacks, in the earlier books, on the Iron Claws that were sanctioned by the Dragon High Council. Well, it ends up that there is a person in the Dragon High Council with a personal vendetta against the Iron Claws and this person was happy to kill people to make them out to be the bad guys. Want to know who it is??? Read the book!!

The sex between Joe and Emma was hot….once it happened. The end of the book did make me giggle a bit. Actually a whole bunch. It seemed like they didn’t stop once they stopped…lol.

I was pretty happy with how the Dragon High Council storyline ended up. A perfect ending to a great series.

How many stars will I give Her Alpha Dragon: 4

Why: This was a great conclusion to the Her Biker Dragon series. I was sad to see these characters go and I do hope that they show up in other books.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, violence, and language

I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it

Her Hacker Dragon (Her Biker Dragon: Book 4) by A.J. Tipton

Her Hacker Dragon (Her Biker Dragon #4)

Title: Her Hacker Dragon

Author: A.J. Tipton

Publisher: Unknown

Date of publication: March 16th, 2016

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Dragons, LGBTQIA

Number of pages: 110

POV: 3rd person

Series: Her Biker Dragon

Her Valiant Dragon – Book 1 (review here)

Her Delicious Dragon – Book 2 (review here)

Her Rockstar Dragon – Book 3 (review here)

Her Hacker Dragon – Book 4

Her Alpha Dragon – Book 5

Can be read out-of-order from series: Yes but I would recommend reading them in order

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Geeks rule in this delightfully dangerous dragon adventure.

The badass dragon shifters of the Iron Claws motorcycle club will risk everything for the people they love. Cast out from their dragon clans, they must use their cunning and strength to defy the laws of their people and stay one step ahead of those determined to keep life-saving cures out of the hands of humans.

Brilliant, transgender shifter Alec Harper is trying to atone for his dark past by dedicating his life to healing humans. When it appears his life-saving drug may actually be a life-taking drug, Alec must race to discover the truth before more innocents die.

Vampire scientist Penelope O’Hara has been fascinated by all things supernatural for three hundred years. When Alec saves her from a sudden attack by dragon shifter goons, Penelope is pulled into a dangerous world of hackers, killers, and conspiracies. Logic tells her that the perils of being with someone from the Iron Claws are a bad idea, but her heart keeps telling her to stay.

This adult novella includes daring rescues, sexy science, and a nerdy romance that defies expectations.

My review:

Way back in book 1, Dylan and Marie’s story, it was revealed that Alec was transgendered and it intrigued me. See, I don’t think I have read a romance that had a transgendered man (or woman) as one of the main characters. I was very curious to see how the author would be writing the romance.  I wasn’t disappointed. Not only did the author did a great job writing the romance but Alec’s background as well.

I just wanted to hug Alec. The poor guy had been through the wringer and back before he joined the Iron Claws. I just wanted to cry when he thought he wouldn’t find his mate because of how he looked (male on the inside (dragon was male too), female on the outside). He was too male for some girls, too female for others and he just gave up looking for love. While he was happy for his friends, he was sad at the same time. He wanted what they had.

Penelope was a brilliant vampire scientist who was researching magic. She has a tragic past too but nothing like Alec’s. The reason she started studying magic was that when her brother was dying, she attempted a spell to cure him and it didn’t work. So she wanted to know why it worked for witches and not for her and that is what fueled her 300 year-long research.

The Iron Claws find out that Puff has been killing people and it throws everyone into an uproar and a tizzy. They know it is not true but they need to find a way to prove it. Alec decides to go for a walk and happens to run into Penelope, as she is getting a beat down on a sidewalk just down the street from AUDREY’s. Who was she getting a beat down from? Hired muscle from the Dragon High Council for reasons that are revealed later in the book. Being out in the daylight has drained her so when Alec offers his wrist to her to drink from, she takes it and feels overwhelmingly attracted to him.

The romance between Penelope and Alec did get off to a rocky start. See, Penelope couldn’t wrap her head around that while Alec had male blood, he still had the body of a woman. Alec was sure that while Penelope was attracted to him, she wouldn’t get past that Alec was still a woman in body (not in heart or soul, though). Obviously, they get together but it was interesting to see Penelope’s thought progress and then her “who cares” attitude when she gave in.

The sex scenes between Alec and Penelope were hot but sweet. I literally laughed out loud when Penelope unloaded a bunch of sex toys from her magic bag….including the Hulk. I was dying when she described it. I actually laughed so hard that BK wanted to know what I was laughing at. When I told him, he just looked at me and went “ooookkkaaayyy”.

The Dragon High Council really were in rare from this book. From framing the Iron Claws to beating Penelope down and bombing her lab, they were really bad guys. But the bad can fall and I really can’t wait to read the last book!!

The ending was great. Alec and Penelope’s story ended and the Puff killing people storyline was ended (thanks to Alec and Penelope) but the Dragon High Council storyline is still there. I cannot wait to see how this series ends!!

How many stars will I give Her Hacker Dragon: 5

Why: While the sex was great, it was the transgender storyline that made this book.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, violence, language

I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it